2:16am September 21, 2013

“…children read as we should read. They are simply enjoying what they read. And that is the only kind of reading that I permit. One should think of reading as a form of happiness, as a form of joy, and I think that compulsory reading is wrong. You might as well talk of compulsory love or compulsory happiness. One should be reading for the pleasure of the book. I was a teacher of English literature for some twenty years and I always said to my students: if a book bores you, lay it aside. It hasn’t been written for you. But if you read and feel passion, then go on reading. Compulsory reading is a superstition.”

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